“Ending . . . and . . . Beginning”
(Jesus said): “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends.”
(John 15:12-13)
The season of Advent is ending, we have read the Old Testament prophecies of a Messiah, the one who would be sent by God, and the Gospel accounts of how these prophecies were fulfilled. Once again, we hear the message that, over the centuries and around the world, all people are given God’s gift of his Son, the Savior.
Recently, retrospectives of the past year have been showing up on TV, in newspapers, and numerous media outlets. They often feature the dramatic, devastating news of conflicts at home and abroad, natural disasters that have wiped out entire communities, with heartbreaking stories of people losing their homes and their livelihoods. Violence in many forms has taken innocent young lives that held so much promise, and we wonder why the forces of evil appear to be so powerful. The world appears to be a cruel and ugly place, and we yearn for some little nugget of hope, an inkling that all is not lost.
So where do we look for that little nugget of hope? How do we find something — anything — that we can cling to? It’s a struggle to see the possibility for love and goodness in this world. And then we hear Jesus giving a commandment to love one another as he loves us. Of course, that sounds impossible, but the strength of his words “as I have loved you,” make that possible. Jesus’ love has power far beyond any human emotion; it fills us up, overflowing to anyone and everyone around us. So look again — there’s not some little nugget, there’s God’s love encompassing the whole world, filling it with hope. Trusting and confident in his love, we will be able to do that to which we are called.
In a few days, we’ll hear or read the account of the arduous journey across rugged countryside, the desperate search for a place to stay, and a young mother giving birth to her first child in a stable. In an unexpected turn of events, a bunch of scruffy shepherds come to the stable, insisting they had been told to go to Bethlehem to see this child by a choir of angels singing from the heavens. Later, three exotic, scholarly men from the east arrive, talking about a star guiding them so they could pay tribute to the newborn King.
How is it that this old, familiar story, one we’ve heard since childhood, sounds fresh and new, bringing us the hope for which we yearn? It’s because God comes to us, refreshing and making us new every day through his love and forgiveness. So whether we think we’re ready or not, the miraculous child will once again be born in our hearts, and the voices of God’s people around the world will join in singing, “Christ the Savior is born!”
Following the star,
Your friend in Christ, Mary Rogers